Ursula Hoff Fellowship

Thank you for your interest in the Ursula Hoff Fellowship. As a result of the State of Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions, the Fellowship will not be offered in 2021. We hope to restart this program in 2022.

About Ursula Hoff
Dr Ursula Hoff AO OBE LLD PhD (Hamburg) D Lit (Monash) was born in 1909 in London and died in 2005 in Melbourne. Dr Hoff’s distinguished career encompassed art history, curatorship and museum management at the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Educated in Hamburg, she was among the pivotal first generation of European-trained art historians who introduced the subject to Australian universities. Dr Hoff was a lecturer in the then Department of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne and worked at the National Gallery of Victoria, becoming its assistant director from 1968–73. She became the London Adviser to the Felton Bequest from 1975–83. Dr Hoff was a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1970 and member of the Council of the National Library of Australia. Her numerous scholarly publications include studies of Arthur Boyd, Charles Conder, John Brack and William Blake.

Aims of the Fellowship
Dr Ursula Hoff bequeathed funds to the University of Melbourne to establish a fellowship for the study and promotion of prints held in the print collections of the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria. In recognition of Dr Hoff’s scholarly and professional achievements, the Fellowship is awarded annually to a candidate displaying a commitment to research into prints, the history of print collecting and the scholarly activities of museums and universities.

The Fellowship aims to:

-encourage research into prints held by the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria, and by extension research into the history of prints and print collecting in Australia;

-encourage scholarly activity within the print collections of the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria;

-support the professional and intellectual development of an early career researcher; and

-promote interest in prints and print collecting.

Benefits
The Ursula Hoff Fellowship is offered annually. The value of the award is $30,000. The duration of the Fellowship is four months. The Fellow is offered research access to collections relevant to their research at the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria, subject to the collection access protocols relevant to specific collections.

Eligibility to apply
The Ursula Hoff Fellowship is open to early career researchers who have completed a Master of Arts (MA), Master of Fine Arts (MFA) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Art, Art History, Arts Management or Art Curatorship at a recognised Australian university. Applicants should have completed an MA, MFA or PhD degree no more than three years prior to the closing date of applications.

Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to the study and promotion of prints and print collecting in Australia. Applicants must nominate a research project dedicated to research into prints and the history of print collecting in Australia that will be undertaken within the print collections of the University of Melbourne and the National Gallery of Victoria. The research project must be achievable within the collection access protocols relevant to the nominated collections.

Recent recipients

2019 Dr Rosemary Forde; Am I or is Australia far away: Print portfolios as commemorative statements of nationhood

2018 Dr Jane Eckett; Transmission and transference: Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack’s transfer drawings and the significance of the trace monotype among post-World War II modernist diasporas.

2017 Quentin Sprague; The Master Printer as Artistic Collaborator: an oral history.

2016 Dr Angelo Lo Conte; Antipodean prints: Joseph Burke, Orde Poynton, Ursula Hoff and the development of the University of Melbourne’s print collection.

2015 Emily Wubben; Imprinting one’s mark: The inspiration, output and legacy of John Shirlow.

2019 Fellowship recipient
The Ian Potter Museum of Art is pleased to announce Dr Rosemary Forde as the recipient of the Ursula Hoff Fellowship for 2019.

Dr Rosemary Forde is a curator and academic based in Naarm Melbourne. Dr Forde’s research projects focus on contemporary art history, with a particular commitment to localised practice and discourse in Australia and Aotearoa. Her curatorial practice encompasses exhibitions, editorial and publication projects, public artworks, and pedagogical programs.

As the Australian government makes plans to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and activists call for civic memorials to mark sites of colonial massacres across Australia, the role of art in commemoration, memorialisation and national identity is of urgent concern. Dr Forde will research a selection of Australian print portfolios from the 1980s and 1990s, looking at their function as commemorative statements and reflections on national identity.